Movie Review – Page 56 – Savior Gaming

Alice In Wonderland (2010)

alice 2010

I’d like to take a quick moment to talk about a hero of mine, Tim Burton. The man gave us some genuine creepy, funny, and heartfelt movies throughout the years. When I heard he was doing a version of Lewis Carroll’s classic, and Johnny Depp was going to play the Mad Hatter- a actor I used to love by the way- this movie quickly became one of my eagerly anticipated. As many would say, Burton’s quality has nosedived over the years, so where does Alice lie?

Alice was a little girl with a sunny smile and strange dreams. Ten years later, she’s nineteen and depressed after losing her father. Life is dull and kind of crappy; her mom wants her to be ladylike, she’s getting pushed into a marriage with a boring snob, and her sister’s perfect marriage is a lie. The snob proposes to her but she runs away, tripping down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. Sadly, Wonderland is not such a safe place for Alice, full of beasts and the tyranny of the big headed Red Queen. A prophecy unfolds around Alice told to her by a smoking caterpillar that she would be the one to free Wonderland and restore the throne to the White Queen, but she refuses and is confused why everyone acts like they know her. Were her dreams dreams after all?

Many blame the decline of Burton’s quality on this movie and in some ways, I see that. Burton’s tropes are heavy as hell in here: Johnny Deep and Helena Bonham Carter, the dark, goth pallet to the color, and everyone is super pale. Oddly enough, he doesn’t make so much of a WTF story here as you’d imagine and the source material demands but the story feels like a simple epic with Alice characters tacked on. I really like the score and visually the CGI is cool to look at. Depp as the Hatter stands out but mostly the characters are on the verge of flat. In the end the movie isn’t bad and worth watching but it isn’t Burton’s best. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Blade Runner

blade runner

By now, everyone that reads this blog knows I’m a huge Alien fan and I was a pretty big fan of Prometheus , also from Ridley Scott ( Alien: Covenant not so much). I always wanted to venture into the film many have called Scott’s greatest sci-fi piece and what many have called one of the greatest sci-fi movies of our time, Blade Runner.

In the gritty, neon future of 2019 ( no comment) we have expanded to other worlds and the Tyrell Corporation has designed these sophisticated, nearly human androids called Replicants. Special officers, called Blade Runners, are dispatched to locate and exterminate the Replicants run amok. Deckard is a burnt out Blade Runner who wants out of the job but is given a last job, hunt down a gang of murderous Replicants lead by the enigmatic and deranged Roy Batty. In his hunt for the four, he comes in contact with a Replicant woman who tests all he knows about what he thinks is real..

I’m going to say this now, this is definitely an acquired taste. Visually it holds up really, really damn good and is simply one of the most beautiful movies to look at I’ve ever watched. It’s a very slow movie and I admit, you better pay attention or you will be lost. Harrison Ford is great as Deckard, who isn’t a super detective in any sense, feeling like a real person in a deeply personal situation. Rutger Hauer stole the show for me as Batty, being creepy but sympathetic, and delivering a truly beautiful monologue at the end. I love the movie but I get why some won’t, but I say it deserves a try. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Yu Gi Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions (2017)

After a long hiatus, in 2017 Yu Gi Moto returned to theaters in the 2017 movie The Dark Side of Dimensions. The movie took place about 3 years after the original series, after the duel between Yu Gi and the Pharaoh that left Yu Gi alone and without the puzzle and the Pharaoh back in his rightful place. An old prophecy has come to pass have and the Plana have received a magical power that will allow them to reshape the world into a better place free of evil. As we know however absolute power corrupts absolutely,

The movie will see Kaiba attempt to reconstruct the Millennium Puzzle so he can finally defeat the Pharaoh in a duel which will cause Diva of the Plana to attempt to stop him and kill Yu Gi so the power of the Plana will be safe forever.

The movie is well done and has something for fans that wanted something new but also gave fans what they also wanted, which was a duel with Yu Gi and Kaiba as well as new monsters, one of my favorites was Deep Eyes White Dragon.

Tho Gandora-X The Dragon of Demolition was pretty cool as well.

The movie did an amazing job demonstrating that Kaiba is obsessed with something to the point of almost insanity. That obsession also brought back old enemies long since forgotten and defeated and are more dangerous than ever. For Yu Gi Oh fans this may very well be the definitive movie and ending they always wanted. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Yu Gi Oh: The Movie (2004)

As a kid, I was a huge Yu Gi Oh fan, even as an adult me and my friends played. Yes, my now ex-wife and I used to play. I saw every episode of the original cartoon, I had every variation of Blue Eyes White Dragon, including the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon from this movie. The irony tho, I had never seen this movie until this weekend. See by this point I hadn’t so much fallen but didn’t really had the chance then, and years later I had forgotten about it. So as I am flipping through Hulu I came across it so I tossed it on.

The first thing I have to say, is the reviews on Metacritic and such are terrible. Rotten Tomatoes gives it 5%. For me, this seems odd, but as I said I am a fan. For me, it was a huge flashback to a show I loved. It was almost like watching season one in an hour and a half, we got to see Kaiba duel Pegasus, but how it would play out if he had his newest deck and experiences. We learned more about what happened 5000 years ago in Egypt, and of course, we saw Yu Gi pull a win from the jaws of defeat in a seemingly impossible manner and this was honestly all I wanted.

Sure maybe it wasn’t the best written or visually, and how dated the formula was is apparent. That being said it was a fun nostalgia trip and honestly 14 years after the movie was released, that is all I truly wanted. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Europa Report (2013)

Europa Report is a fictional story of a manned mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa, but it should be noted it is based off the actual idea that many scientists have and one simple question that again many real-life scientists ask. Is there life on the moon Europa? Obviously, I am not going to answer that question, how the hell would I know? I am just a blogger with an interest in science that picked this movie because of what it was about. So how does a movie such as this stack up? Well much like the mission in this movie it mostly misses its mark.

The movie starts off slow, and I do mean slow. This wouldn’t be so bad but it tends to skip around without warning and without explanation. At one point I thought I accidentally restarted the movie because it skipped back and it was very similar to an earlier part.

The movie also never really speeds up, this wouldn’t be so bad, however, this time isn’t used to make you care about the characters. Not to say the time is wasted, they use it to push how important the mission is which isn’t bad, but really we know it’s important, anyone watching the movie is watching because they love this sort of stuff.

The movie also doesn’t speed up or get interesting until the last 20 minutes or so. Now I will admit, this end portion of the movie is quite amazing. In fact, I won’t even spoil that for you simply because of how amazing it is. It gets exciting, the pay off of the trip is finally found you start to wonder how it will all turn out and even start to see how they will get out of these problems. Scientifically speaking they also do a solid job of making things sound good. That being said, that ending is only worth it for huge fans of science and space. your average person should avoid this movie. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Outlaw King (2018)

Outlaw King with Chris Pine is the true story of the Scottish King Robert the Bruce. Honestly, I know next to nothing about Scottish history so how true it is I can’t tell you. What I can say is the movie has something for everyone. For example, the men get to see some brutal killings, epic battle scenes and even some nice breast from a woman. Ladies? The movie has a love story and a 100% naked Chirs Pine.

There is also some intrigue and backstabbing involved tho you Game of Throne fans won’t be impressed and the over two hour run time will be a turn off for some people. But for fans of history and period pieces will enjoy that time. Watching a small army become a band of men and grow again is always fun. Seeing a huge insurmountable army slowly crumble is the stuff of legend and for me is the true joy in all of this.

The movie, of course, isn’t perfect and much of it feels like filler that could have been done without. Unless you are a fan of this sort of movie I really don’t suggest watching it. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

DB Super: Broly trailer 3

After DragonBall Super movie: Broly trailer and those that followed, despite popular opinions, I’m not thrilled how Broly is being done in this movie. Not to say I don’t think it will be a badass movie, I’m just saying Broly’s new origin doesn’t really grab me so much. Still, I’m excited to see Broly come back and be cannon at last. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Reign of the Supermen trailer

Almost 2 weeks ago we got the first trailer for Reign of the Supermen, the third story in the Death of Superman story. After Superman dies, 4 new figures emerge attempting to fill his mantle but not all of them maybe a force for good. I always wanted to read it because it was the debut of Steel. The trailer looks good and I’m curious how it’ll go. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Jeff Who Lives At Home

Jeff Who Lives At Home is the movie of a loser that lives in mom’s basement having a pretty crap day after watching the movie Signs (2002) A bit of weed, a strange phone call for a guy named Kevin and his mom demanding he fix the piece of a door.

The movie mostly follows Jeff through his day as he takes a bus to get some glue but is interrupted to play some basketball, smoke more weed, gets mugged. He also helps his brother when he suspects his wife may be cheating on him. Turns out finding your destiny isn’t easy.

The movie is slow and not very action oriented and quite honestly is not for most people. I thought it was fun and interesting and I enjoyed it, but I don’t think there is much here for your average movie fan looking for some action. It relies heavily on the person watching wanting to sit and think about the bigger things in life as well as which honestly isn’t what most people want to do. I do suggest you watch it regardless tho. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Most Likely To Murder (2018)

Most Likely to murder is the typical story of the king of the school returning home to find out he isn’t really the king any longer. Billy’s (Adam Pally) old friends hate him, his old fling hates him, really only his best friend is happy to see him. Who can blame them tho, he is trapped in high school to the point he even came home and expected to cruise around in the same car.

When Billy runs into Kara (Rachel Bloom) and discovers she may or may not be dating the guy he used to bully, Lowell (Vincent Kartheiser) he kind of looses it a bit, goes on a drinking bender and witnesses a murder he attempts to prove that Lowell’s mom died not on accident, but because is former torture target is the weirdo he always claimed he was.

The movie is at times honestly cringe worthy with how billy behaves and comes off and others the movie does an amazing job showing how people obsessed with high school being the best time of their lives can truly lose sight of how times and people change even when they do not. The movie isn’t bad by any stretch but it would hardly be fair to call this a masterpiece. It isn’t a great comedy, but it is an interesting one. It isn’t for everyone but it is enjoyable, best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.